President Obama told Congress to scrap its upcoming vacations if necessary and put aside their partisan beliefs in order to come up with a deal on the budget and debt limit by a deadline of August 2.
"August 2nd is a very important date," the President said at a White House news conference. "There's no reason why we can't get this done now."
Mr. Obama flashed a sense of aggravation when asked about calls from both parties in Congress for him to show more leadership, saying it's time for the Congress to do its part.
"I've already shown I'm willing to make some decisions that are pretty tough," the President said.
Then Mr. Obama hinted at what may be an attack that you will hear against Republicans in the House in coming days, that they should quit taking so many days out of Washington, D.C., and stay here to cut a deal on the budget and debt limit.
"If by the end of this week we have not seen substantial progress, then I think members of Congress need to understand that we are going to have to cancel things and stay here," Mr. Obama said.
That kind of jab could definitely be zapped at House Republicans, as they are back home this week, will work only three days next week and then are off again for the week of July 18 - all while the clock is ticking down to the August 2 deadline for action.
As for the Senate, there was a bit of irony in that Obama statement, given that the Senate is controlled by Democrats, and Senators are at this moment itching to get out of town for their own 10 day break.
As for how to cut a deal, Mr. Obama repeatedly said that since Democrats are willing to accept deep spending cuts, then Republicans must be willing to accept some tax increases as part of a deal, something GOP leaders have rejected.
"This is urgent, and it needs to get settled," Mr. Obama said.
But the rhetoric didn't really match reality, as the White House has not scheduled any kind of negotiations with Republican leaders, though Senate Democrats were heading to meet with the President on Wednesday afternoon.
As for details of any deal, the President again hammered on the need to strip tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, corporate jet owners and on 'millionaires and billionaires.'
"We can't reduce our deficit, in the scale and scope that we need to, without having a balanced approach," said the President.
In other words, a combination of spending cuts and increased tax revenues.
